OPEN COLUMN-2

Wednesday

May 28, 2008 at 12:01 AM

Editor, the Tribune: A Nobel Prize-winning economist calculates that the war in Iraq is costing us $500,000 a minute, $720 million per day. Based upon figures from the American School and University's Education Construction Report, if we instead spent this money on schools, each day we could build:

? Sixty-two new elementary schools that would each educate 700 children (new elementary schools for more than 42,000 kids).

? Forty new middle schools that would each educate 825 children (new schools for 33,000 children).

? Two dozen new high schools that would each educate 1,000 kids (new schools for 24,000 kids).

Thus, with the money we now spend in Iraq, we could build a new elementary school for every U.S. elementary student in 26 months ? or a new high school for every U.S. high school student in less than 24 months.

Where would you prefer to spend this borrowed money (that your kids will have to pay back with interest using devalued dollars)?